I suspect this is purely because a Russian intelligence operative, who lived in Maryland using forged Brazilian identity documents, has been charged with espionage and other crimes by the US Department of Justice. Victor Muller Ferreira, a Brazilian national, was stopped from entering the Netherlands in June 2022, where he had intended to join the International Criminal Court (IOC) as an intern on forged papers.

A few days after Cherkasov returned to Brazil, a federal court in Guarulhos, a suburb of Sao Paolo, found him guilty of having used the identity of a dead Brazilian citizen to forge identity papers, which he then used to enter and leave Brazil 15 times over 10 years. The 10-year period had started in 2010, when Cherkasov had entered Brazil using his real Russian identity. But when he left the country a few months later, he did so using the forged identity that had allegedly been provided to him by Russian intelligence. Having examined the charges against Cherkasov, the court jailed him for 15 years.

Now the United States Department of Justice has charged Cherkasov with a list of new crimes, including acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign power and repeatedly carrying out visa, bank and wire fraud.

I expect Russia want him back and will offer to trade Evan Gershkovich sometime in the future.